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Canterbury Feby 4 1845

To the Revd J. Forshall
Secretary British Museum

Sir

I have the honor to acknowledge your letter of the 23 ult. relative to my Zoological collections

2. With reference to the extent of these collections recently, and formerly delivered, it may conduce to future convenience if the Keeper of the Zoology be directed to submit to the Trustees a summary statement showing the totals of what has been received by the Museum, what retained by it, and what distributed elsewhere, in the shape of skins, bones, or Drawings.

3. The following are the parties to which I wish the duplicate skins to be transmitted, in the order in which they are set down. India House, Leyden, Paris, Berlin, Frankfurt, Edinbro, Dublin, Newcastle, Canterbury, Manchester, The Earl of Derby.

4. The duplicate bones, I wish to be delivered to the Royal College of Surgeons, London, to The Zoological Society, London and to the other parties above named and in the same order, as far as the specimens go

5. Letters are prepared by me to accompany these specimens, and I only wait your Keeper's report of what is available and the receipt of the Catalogue he is engaged to furnish, in order to deliver these letters.

6. With regard to the missing Drawings presented to British Museum, I have the honor to state that I have recovered and delivered to your Keeper, sixty-five of them and that the following are the parties (beside Mr. Howard) from whom more of them may be expected to be obtained. The Royal Asi[atic] Society, The Zoological Society, Sir Alex Johnston, Professor H. H. Wilson.

7. Mr Howard, I find it as length forthcoming and admits having a complete set of the Mammal Drawings which however he attempts to retain possession of under pretext the futility of which Mr. Hawkins of your Museum can establish. No time should be lost in recovering these drawings from Mr. Howard.
   I have the honor to be
   Sir
   your most obt. Servant
   B. H. Hodgson
   Late Minister at the Court of Nepal

Darjeeling 29th April 1847

To J. Forshall
Secy. British Museum
London

My dear Sir

I have duly received the twelve copies of the General Catalogue of the Mammals and Birds of Nepal, founded on my own Catalogues and corrected as to [Synonymes] by Mr Gray, by order of the Trustees of the British Museum wherein are deposited the specimens and Drawings. I request you will convey to the Trustees my sense of the high courtesy that has dictated the printing under their authority of this catalogue separately from the general one of the museum and to add that it shall be mu endeavour by transmitting fresh and superior samples of such specimens and drawings are still defective or missing to make the collection quite complete and this show myself duly sensible of the consideration that has been [?] towards me by this distinguished Patron of science and literature. With regard to the remaining copies of the Catalogue of Nepal Mammals and Birds respecting the disposal of which you consult me. I request that one copy having been sent to each of the public institutions abroad and home to which duplicated of the specimens were transmitted under the auspices of the Trustees, the rest m[a]y be distributed to the most eminent individual cultivators of zoology foreign and English, such as Mr Temminck and J. Cuvier and Geof. St Hilaire and Colonel H. Smith, and Professor Owen and Dr. Falconer and Mr. Yarrel and Mr. Ogilby Secy. Zool. Socty. and Colol Sykes India Director reserving only two copies to be sent to my father B. Hodgson Eqre Canterbury. This Trustees, have already approved the distribution to Institutions and will no doubt excuse the trouble now imposed of distribution to individuals, in consideration of my remote and disabling position. I have only to add the request that each copy distributed m[a]y have inscribed on the flyleaf "With Mr Hodgson's compts"
I remain
My dear Sir
Yours very truly

To B. H. Hodgson Esqre

British Museum
1 February 1843

Sir,

Mr. Gray, the Keeper of the Zoology has reported to the Trustees that he had received a very extensive Collection of Mammalia and Birds, collected by you in Nepal, out of which you have been pleased to offer to the acceptance of the Trustees such specimens, as are desirable for the Museum on the following conditions

1. That you are furnished with a list of the whole collection

2. That Mr. F. Howard engaged in publishing your Drawings of these Mammalia and Birds be allowed to have on loan such specimens as he may require to verify the Drawings

3. That no one be allowed to figure or describe the specimens which may not hitherto have been described until Mr Howard's work now in the press has appeared.

I am directed by the Trustees to acquaint you that they most cheerfully accede to the terms which you propose, and I am at the same time to request that you will accept the Especial Thanks of The Trustees for this very valuable addition to the Natural History of The Museum.

I have the honour to be
Sir
Your most obedient
humble Servant
J. Forshall
Secretary

British Museum
23rd Dec 1844

Sir

The Trustees having had under their consideration your letter of the 15th inst. direct me in reply to acquaint you
1s That they have instructed Mr. Gray, the Keeper of Zoology, to proceed immediately to Canterbury, for the purpose of receiving the whole of your specimens and finished Drawings remaining there, and of conveying them to the Museum
2d that, as soon as your Collection arrives, they will give directions for the selection of the Duplicate specimens not required for the Museum and for the distribution of these Duplicates to the Institutions named in your former letter, and to such others as you may specifically direct, attaching in each case a list of the specimens
3d that they will also investigate the circumstances attending the detention of the Drawings lent to Mr. F. Howard, and will endeavour to procure their restoration
4 that the Keeper of the Zoology will no doubt be at all times happy to receive any communication with which he may be favored by you upon matters relating to his Department of Natural History, and to aid your researches in India, by such general advice and counsel as may not e inconsistent with his other very numerous and pressing duties
5 that the Trustees will take measures for the preparation forthwith of a list or short Catalogue of the Specimens and Drawings which you have had the liberality to present to the Museum, and will transmit a copy of the Catalogue to you in Nepal as soon as it had been prepared; and lastly that strict injunctions will be given to the officer in charge of your Drawings not to suffer any public use of them for two years from next January. With regard to the other points which you suggest, and particularly the publication of an illustrated Fauna of Nepal and Tibet, The Trustees beg to refer to my letter to yours of the 20th inst.
I have the honor to be
Sir
your most obedient
humble Servant
J. Forshall

Secretary
To B. H. Hodgson Esq

British Museum
23rd Jan 1845

To B. H. Hodgson Esq[ui]re

Sir,

I am directed by the Trustees to acknowledge your letter of the 3rd inst. and to offer you their especial thanks for the liberal addition you have made to your former extensive presents to the Museum. The Trustees have directed the Keeper of Zoology to select and receive into the Collections under his charge such of our osteological specimens as may be usefully retained in the Museum, and to take your instructions as to the disposal of the remainder. I am to beg the favor of knowing the names of the various persons referred to in your letter as being in possession of part of the Drawings presented by you to the Trustees
To Mr. Frank Howard, mentioned in your former Correspondence the Trustees have already made application on the subject
I have the honor to be
Sir
your most obedient
humble Servant
J. Forshall
Secretary

British Museum
Dec 20 1844

Sir,

I am directed by the Trustees to acknowledge your letter dated Canterbury, December, and in reply to acquaint you that the Trustees are deeply obliged for the valuable series of Skins and Drawings which you have already presented to the Museum as well as for the liberal offer now made of completing the series.
This offer the Trustees will thankfully accept, and will instruct the proper officer to proceed to Canterbury, whenever it may be convenient to you, for the purpose of making the selection for the Museum, and of giving you such aid as he can consistently with his other public duties, in sorting the specimens to be distributed to other public Institutions, but the Trustees regret to say that to contribute in any way to the publication which you propose, does not fall within the limit of the objects to which they think it right to confine themselves.
I have the honor to be,
Sir,
Your most obedient Servant
J. Forshall
Secretary

To B.H. Hodgson Esq

British Museum
4th March 1845

Sir

Having laid your letter of the 4th February before the Trustees I am directed to express the hope that the tabular statement of your Collections which has been transmitted to you by Mr. Gray, is as far as it extends satisfactory I fear that we shall have very great difficulty in obtaining possession of the Drawings delivered to Mr. Howard. The Museum Solicitors have had an interview with the Solicitor of the party who levied the distress and from the facts which they elicited they incline to the opinion that you have lost all legal claim to the Drawings.
I have the honor to be
Sir
Your most obedient
humble Servant

J. Forshall
Secretary

B.H. Hodgson

[Pencilled notes in the margin]
of Distribution:-
full of omissions and inaccuracies want copy of the thing when correct I will pay for its being copied

[Foot of letter]
I must compromise then what to pay? and I or the Museum?

British Museum
March 15 1845

My dear Sir
The Trustees have determined upon retaining in the museum a complete series of your Osteological Specimens, in the belief that these specimens will be of great use in the [?] necessary in the Departments both of recent and [?] Zoology.
They think it however right to appraise you that it is not their intention to articulate any of these specimens or to exhibit them to the public but to arrange and preserve them for the purpose of Scientific enquiries

I have the honor to be,
My dear Sir
Your very obedient Servant
J. Forshall

B. H. Hodgson Esq